Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

6 Cal. 256

People v. Talmage

California Supreme Court

Decided July 1, 1856

California Supreme Court · decided 1856-07-01

This was an action brought in the name of the people of the State, by the Attorney General, to recover the sum of $8,550, being a loss on a re-sale of the interest of the State in certain water lots in the city of San Francisco, originally bid off by defendant at the sale thereof, December 28th, 1858, but for which he refused to pay, by reason whereof they were re-sold, as prescribed by law, at a loss.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1856-07-01

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently July 1979

7 state decisions

301856186018701880189019001910192019301940195019601970decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

The opinion of the Court was delivered by Mr. Chief Justice Murray.

¶1Mr. Justice Terry concurred.

¶2Admitting the right of Carothers to intervene in this case, his petition must be treated as a declaration or complaint under the statute, and as such is wholly insufficient. The facts set forth therein would be insufficient to constitute a cause of action either in law or equity; and the report of the referee, admitting all that it contains, shows conclusively upon its face, that the intervener has no legal claim against the State, and was not entitled to judgment.

¶3We know of no law which would warrant the Governor or Attorney General in making such a contract; in fact, they possessed no such power. If entered into in good faith, it might be the subject for relief at the hands of the Legislature, but is certainly not a cause of legal action.

¶4In absence of any statute to that effect, the State cannot be sued, and the judgment against her is erroneous. Upon the merits of the judgment, we forbear the expression of any opinion.

¶5Judgment reversed.

/6/cal/256 · .json · Public domain